My Story

Last PSA from

Personal stories

12.07.2011

0.10

12.07.11

Peter Ewart-Brookes and Angela live in Johannesburg, South Africa. He was 65 when he was diagnosed on 22 December 2007. His initial PSA was 1,121.0 ng/ml, his Gleason Score was 7 and he was staged T4. His choice of treatment was ADT (Androgen Deprivation Therapy).

Here is his story.

I noticed a lump in my groin which turned out to be a lymph node infected with cancer. Up until then I had none of the usual symptoms.

I then went for the internal examination, bone scan and biopsy and was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer (T4N2MX)on 22 December 2007. In early January 2008 I started hormone treatment and after 3 months my PSA was down to 2.1.

After two more 3-month sessions on hormones my PSA stabilised below 1.0 but I sometimes suffer with extreme fatigue and hot flushes (flashes). At the moment I am on a 'holiday' from treatment with my PSA static 0.1.

Went to the doctor this week (April 2009) and we decided to hold off from treatment for another three months. Every three months I expect the my PSA to have risen - one day it will have.

I am a director of a project management with no thought of retirement yet.

UPDATED: December 2009

After nearly a year without treatment and my PSA remaining at 0.1, it jumped to 0.26 between July and October. So, back on the treatment and we'll see what's happened in January 2010.

UPDATED: March 2011

Things have been pretty good since December 2009. After the jump in July 2009 my PSA stabilized at around 0.1 and stayed that way in each of my three-monthly blood tests until January this year (2011) when it increased slightly to 1.0.

I was without any treatment throughout 2010, but with the recent rise in PSA I†™ll be interested to see what my next blood test in April indicates. My symptoms are still very mild: occasional hot flushes, tiredness and some pain in my hip (which may be unrelated to the cancer and could be down to old age). I†™m 68 now and still working full-time in my project management consultancy company.

UPDATED: May 2011

My PSA went to 13 in the April so I†™m now back on the hormone treatment. In 2009, after a similar jump, it returned to low numbers in 3 months so here†™s hoping for the July blood test .